I know it's been a week since he was born but as anyone who's been a parent before can attest, we've been pretty busy (and tired!). I expected this to happen and knew that's I'd probably be late doing this post, so that is why I took good notes at the hospital so I'd be sure to remember it all. Here is my account of the hospital stay and delivery process.
April 8th, 2012
4:30pm - We left the house for the hospital. We took like three bags of clothes and necessities which baffled me since we were only going to be gone for like 2 days and we were close enough to our home that we could go home if we needed anything else. The drive to the hospital was mostly silent since I think we were both nervous about what was about to transpire.
5:00pm - Admitted to the hospital and got our room. Jun changed into the extremely glamorous hospital gown with strict instructions not to tie the bottom tie on the back, only the one around her neck. When she got all situated and in bed, the nurse cam in and hooked her up to the fetal monitors, checked her cervix (2cm dilated, 50% effaced) and started her on her paperwork.
5:45pm - My parents arrived to the hospital and check in on us. The nurse put the IV stub (don't know what it's actually called) into Jun's hand and drew some of her blood.
6:30pm - Cirvodil is administered by the nurse and Jun is ordered to 1 hour of bedrest.
7:00pm - My parents left to go home (our house).
7:15pm - Jun's parents left.
7:30pm - Found the Rangers/White Sox game on TV. Huzzah! At this point, Jun is still feeling pretty good. She's having some minor cramping but nothing she can't handle. We're just enjoying watching the game and spending some time together at this point. The doctor comes and checks on us every hour or so.
9:15pm - My mom comes back up to the hospital and brings me some dinner. Jun's "cramps" are about 4-5 minutes apart.
10:35pm - Our nurse comes in to give Jun a 10mg Ambian to help her get some sleep.
10:45pm - Try to get some sleep. I start out on the couch/torture rack that is in the room. It's supposed to pull out into a bed, but some of the cushions are missing and there is a support bar right in the middle of the couch that stick into your spine. The hospital does not even offer blankets and pillow to me and I had to ask for a pillow. Good thing we brought extra blankets.
11:30pm - Jun needs to pee, I get up to help her since she's hooked into all sorts of monitors.
April 9th, 2012
12:00am - The nurse comes in to check on the monitors, I wake up.
12:30am - Jun needs to pee, I get up again, but I decided to get off the torture rack and sleep on the floor.
2:00am - Nurse comes in to check on Jun. I wake up.
2:30am - Jun needs to pee, I get up.
4:30am - Jun needs to pee, I get up.
6:30am - Jun needs to pee, I get up, but we stay awake at this point.
7:00am - The nurse shifts have changed over, and we get a new nurse, Marianne. She also comes equipped with an intern, Spencer who appears to be a nursing student from TCU. Jun gets to take a shower at this time and afterwords she feels MUCH better.
7:15am - Cervix check. 2cm dialated, 70% effaced. I begin to question the necessity of the Cervodil since it only seemed to give her about 20% more effacement.
7:30am - Pitocin is started at the lowest setting.
7:50am - I took the opportunity to grab a shower and change my clothes.
8:05am - Pitocin dosage upped.
8:10am - Dr. Kolar (Jun's OB) broke Jun's water. Jun described it as being "Very hot, like a hot bath" Dr. Kolar said the fluid was good and clear. I was standing as far away as possible, so I didn't see it.
8:50am - The nurse came back in and the topic of epidurals was brought up. Jun's contractions are getting more intense and are about 2 minutes apart. She's very uncomfortable and NOT in a good mood.
9:30am - Dr. Leitch is the anesthesiologist who is brought into give the epidural. Everyone except me and the nurse are ushered out of the room. It makes me nervous when he takes a phone call WHILE the 6 inch needle is sticking out of my wife's spine, but he gets it done successfully and in a few minutes Jun feels MUCH better.
10:00am - The nurse intern (Spencer) puts in a catheter and our parents are allowed back in.
10:40am - Pitocin is upped.
11:10am - Pitocin upped again.
11:30am - The nurse takes Jun's temperature and it appears to be normal.
11:30am to 12:30pm - My parents take me to lunch at Schlotzky's. It's delicious.
12:30pm - Cervix check: 4cm, 100% effaced. Getting closer.
1:00pm - Pitocin is upped again.
1:40pm - Another increase in Pitocin. Cervix exam shows she is dilated to 7.5cm, 100% effaced. Bloodly show and progressing nicely. It's at this point that the nurse says that at the last cervix exam they thought it would be necessary for a c-section since it is a big baby and she was only dilated to a 4. Now that she's progressed a lot, a normal birth is expected.
2:00pm - Upped Pitocin again. They are having trouble getting her contractions normalized.
2:45pm - Upped Pitocin again. Getting ridiculous.
3:25pm - Cervix check: 8cm, Station 0 to -1.
3:50pm - Dr. Kolar checks Jun and disagrees and says she is dilated to a 7, but the baby moved down. She broke more of Jun's water that she apparently didn't get earlier.
4:50pm - Cervix check. The nurse says the baby has "done a lot of work," and we would be pushing soon. Jun is starting to experience pain with each contraction and addition pain medication is added.
5:25pm - Drinking too much water caused Jun to throw up. Good think I was quick with a barf bag. Only ice chips from now on.
6:05pm - Cervix check, baby has descended and we should be about ready to push.
6:24pm - After only 10 pushes during 3 contractions, Casen Kai Robbins is born into this world at 8lbs, 0oz and is 22.5" long. I'll save you all the "messy" details, but everything went very normally and the delivery is a complete success.
I pretty much quit taking notes at this point since I had the more important job of being a dad to attend to, but there was a lot of picture taking, holding of the baby, grandparent fawning, crying and feeding. After all that was over, we were moved to a postpartum room.
That's the story! I'll get back on later and add some pictures.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Exactly 40 Weeks! We're Headed To...
...work.
So, unless the baby decides to come later on today (It's 12:30pm right now), he's going to be late. Oh well, we've been told over and over again that first babies tend to come later than their due date... which makes me wonder why they don't just make the due date for first time moms a few days after a normal calculated due date.
Jun had her final "check-up" appointment with her doctor on Monday and according to the doctor everything is progressing just as it should. She was still only a little more than 1cm dilated, but she is right where she needs to be. For the last week or so before the appointment, I heard a lot of "I'm ready to have this baby!" talk from Jun and she expressed this feeling to the doctor as well, so the doctor and nurses tried to find ways to give Jun and excuse to get induced early. The nurse who took Jun's blood pressure tried to convince the doctor that it was "very high" even though it was only slightly elevated, but that didn't work. The doctor then told Jun to go down the hall and get an ultrasound on the off-chance that her fluid was low, which would require an early induction.... nope! Fluid levels were normal. No luck.
Oh well, we will just have the baby when he's ready or on our originally scheduled induction date of April 9th... but wait.
As we were walking out the door of the doctor's office, the nurse at the reception desk yelled at Jun, "Hey! You wanna have this baby tonight?!"
What?
Jun and I just stood there in shock and stared at this lady, not knowing what to say. She repeated what she had just said then added that some lady who was scheduled to be inducted that night had gone into labor on her own earlier that day and so now there was an opening in the doctor's schedule for an induction.
We really didn't know what to say, they kind of dropped a bombshell on us. I knew better than to answer that question myself so I turned to Jun and said, "What do you think? You wanna do it?"
The other nurses that were in the reception area were all telling us that we should definitely do it, and that we probably wouldn't get another opportunity to be induced early. However, Jun decided that she still wanted to give the baby a chance to get to his due date, so we declined the offer.
It's weird to think that I could have already been a dad by now, but I'm willing to wait a few more day if I have to.
Also, I'm kind of glad that we didn't have the baby that night and be worried about trying to get the baby home yesterday with all the bad weather. I've heard the first drive home is already stressful enough...
Here's a picture of Jun today at 40 weeks. This will probably be the last "baby bump" picture. Doesn't she look like she's about to pop?
Edit: Sorry for the fuzzy picture. iPhones weren't meant to capture precious memories.
So, unless the baby decides to come later on today (It's 12:30pm right now), he's going to be late. Oh well, we've been told over and over again that first babies tend to come later than their due date... which makes me wonder why they don't just make the due date for first time moms a few days after a normal calculated due date.
Jun had her final "check-up" appointment with her doctor on Monday and according to the doctor everything is progressing just as it should. She was still only a little more than 1cm dilated, but she is right where she needs to be. For the last week or so before the appointment, I heard a lot of "I'm ready to have this baby!" talk from Jun and she expressed this feeling to the doctor as well, so the doctor and nurses tried to find ways to give Jun and excuse to get induced early. The nurse who took Jun's blood pressure tried to convince the doctor that it was "very high" even though it was only slightly elevated, but that didn't work. The doctor then told Jun to go down the hall and get an ultrasound on the off-chance that her fluid was low, which would require an early induction.... nope! Fluid levels were normal. No luck.
Oh well, we will just have the baby when he's ready or on our originally scheduled induction date of April 9th... but wait.
As we were walking out the door of the doctor's office, the nurse at the reception desk yelled at Jun, "Hey! You wanna have this baby tonight?!"
What?
Jun and I just stood there in shock and stared at this lady, not knowing what to say. She repeated what she had just said then added that some lady who was scheduled to be inducted that night had gone into labor on her own earlier that day and so now there was an opening in the doctor's schedule for an induction.
We really didn't know what to say, they kind of dropped a bombshell on us. I knew better than to answer that question myself so I turned to Jun and said, "What do you think? You wanna do it?"
The other nurses that were in the reception area were all telling us that we should definitely do it, and that we probably wouldn't get another opportunity to be induced early. However, Jun decided that she still wanted to give the baby a chance to get to his due date, so we declined the offer.
It's weird to think that I could have already been a dad by now, but I'm willing to wait a few more day if I have to.
Also, I'm kind of glad that we didn't have the baby that night and be worried about trying to get the baby home yesterday with all the bad weather. I've heard the first drive home is already stressful enough...
Here's a picture of Jun today at 40 weeks. This will probably be the last "baby bump" picture. Doesn't she look like she's about to pop?
Edit: Sorry for the fuzzy picture. iPhones weren't meant to capture precious memories.
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